"Thank you Lord, thank you Jesus, thank you everyone in heaven looking out for me," Bryan said. "This is the best business in the world with the best people, Kenny, Garth, Eric, everybody I was nominated with."

Bryan also said he was happy to see Chris Stapleton enjoy a big night with three wins, including male vocalist, new artist and album of the year for "Traveller."

"About two years ago, I lost my dad and I made this record thinking about a lot of music he would like," said Stapleton, who has written for Kenny Chesney, George Strait and others. "My mom is here tonight, I want to thank my mom."

Stapleton hit the stage with Justin Timberlake, who tapped into his Memphis, Tennessee roots with a show-stopping performance. They strummed their guitars while singing "Tennessee Whiskey," which Stapleton wrote, and followed that with Timberlake's tune, "Drink You Away."

Lambert could have been referring to her divorce to Blake Shelton, announced in July. Shelton, who performed at the live show on ABC, confirmed Wednesday just hours before the awards show that he and his fellow "Voice" mentor Gwen Stefani are dating.

Underwood and Brad Paisley even joked about the divorce at the top of the show.

That was followed by a pair of duets: Eric Church and Hank Williams Jr performed "Are You Ready for the Country" and John Mellencamp and Urban strummed their guitars during "Pink Houses." Thomas Rhett, whose "Die A Happy Man" is No. 1 on Billboard's Hot country songs chart, performed with rockers Fall Out Boy.

Sam Hunt won over the audience with his performance of "Take Your Time," while Underwood sang "Smoke Break" and Musgraves performed "Dime Store Cowgirl" sporting a cowboy hat and shiny number revealing her legs and arms. Bryan sang his slow groove "Strip It Down," while Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line, Reba McEntire and Brooks & Dunn also performed.

The foursome, along with Church, walked into the arena as the most nominated act with five. They lost music video of the year to Maddie & Tae's "Girl in a Country Song" and musical event of the year to Church and Urban.